


Mean "Older Brother"

by AveryUnit



Category: Skulldudes, Skullgirls
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen, Trans Character, possible sibling abuse??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-11 06:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7879696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AveryUnit/pseuds/AveryUnit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the time, Andy had no idea what the hell Avery’s problem with him was.</p><p>——————–</p><p>Avery and Andy hadn’t exactly gotten off on the best terms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mean "Older Brother"

**Author's Note:**

> ("Skulldudes" is a spin-off of the game 'Skullgirls' and a fan-created series. Neither I or the creators of Skulldudes have any affiliation with Lab Zero Games, Autumn Games, or any of the creative team involved in creating Skullgirls.)  
> (Please read the ongoing comic! http://projectskulldudes.tumblr.com/)

Andy was the fourth member to join Peacock’s gang, and technically, in a really weird way, the fourth oldest, too.

The first member, the founder, and the boss, was Peacock herself. The first word that came to mind when he first began to know her properly was ‘excitable‘. She was super eccentric, introducing him to her interests and talking his ear off whenever she had the chance. Sure, she wasn’t... all there, but from what he heard about her past, she deserved a long trip to the fantasy land of sunshine and rainbows after all that. Overall, she was a good boss. Not too demanding, candy everyday and is pretty much great to be around.

The second member was Argus. She was... the complete opposite of Peacock. First thing he’d describe her with would be ‘quiet’, since ‘creepy’ is kind of rude, and he doesn’t dislike Argus, not at all! But with them being a freakishly tall cyclops, it was kind of hard to not feel a tad uneasy around them at first. He was used to it by now, though, and he went to her when he needed scoop or just a time-out and some peace. She said something only when they had something of value to say, and she didn’t pry when he said he didn’t want to talk about whatever was getting him down. And when he did, she listened, and gave advice to the best of her ability. And even when her words weren’t the most comforting, he still felt better about letting his thoughts and feelings be known to somebody.

However, the thing that really unsettled Andy about Argus was that she... stared. She was always staring. He knew that she had her eye on everyone and everything which already made him nervous, but they gave the boss her sight, and he guessed he could live with it, and now they’re on alright terms. She’s chill, but needs to get out more. Seriously.

And then there was the third member, the boss’ right-hand man, Avery.

When he was first introduced to him, the first thing he though was ‘tiny‘. He was teeny tiny, not even 5 feet, shorter than the boss! Speaking of her, the little bird followed her around. All. The. Time. If you saw Avery or Peacock somewhere, you could safely place all your bets that the other was somewhere close. They were always chattering with each other and brewing up trouble, which Peacock was beginning to introduce Andy to. It mostly involved putting whoopie cushions on the scientist’s seats and stealing the dessert before dinner. The man quickly learned the basics of pranking, and found himself loving it.

He got along with all of them. To an extent, anyway. He spent time with Argus, Peacock and Avery equally, but...

He never actually had a proper conversation with the boy.

Avery seemed to only ever talk to the boss, and when he spoke with somebody else, it was only with a few words or just gestures. All the giddiness he showed when around Peacock seemed to be completly gone when he was alone or with someone he seldom knows.

Whenever they were planning their schemes, Avery would stick to the bosses side, suggesting various (quite nasty ones, by the way) ways to prank the residents of Lab 8, he never really paid attention to Andy, even when he announced his strategy, he directed his voice at Peacock, and whenever Andy revealed a plan that Peacock would approve and praise the anvil on, the bird would stare right into Anvil’s eyes. If looks could kill, Andy was sure he would be mutilated, squeezed into a bag and incinirated as the chid just pretended he was just taking out the trash. All five of Avery’s eyes did not leave him until they dispersed to begin the missions, and even then he still felt them bore unto his back, giving him chills worse than the ice bags Ileum would have to apply on his body after being too reckless during his training.

When not with the boss--which was pretty rare--he was with Argus, talking about whatever, or discussing the status of the labs and if there is anything in need of repairing. Most of the time though, he seemed to be gushing about their boss, retelling their latest scheme and praising her. Nigh emotionless Argus sometimes even showed exasparation when the bird started ranting about 'his' host, as if he was her only parasite. Andy learned another thing to describe Argus from watching Avery ramble on to her; 'patience of a saint’.

The doctors and scientists also seemed to talk about Avery sometimes, muttering something about “unstable“ and “needs to be studied further“ which made the newest member worry for his ‘older sibling‘. The boid (Andy heard Peacock call him that from time to time) was pretty hesitant to even go to check-ups, even when the boss reassured him it wouldn’t be so bad. He seemed to know about the people talking behind his back, and the ‘younger’ man caught him glaring daggers at the doctors more than once. Andy guessed that his ‘brother’ was still very young and new to the world like himself, still had much to learn and was yet to learn independency.

One day, the buff man decided he wanted to finally get to know his fellow gang member better. Whenever he was alone and Pea was yet to return, he sat next to him and tried to start a conversation. They’re from the same unit, he’s bound to eventually like him just as much as he likes Peacock and Argus, right?

Except Andy’s hopes were crushed when he found out that Avery especially didn't seem to like him for some reason.

Avery only responded to AA’s attempts at small talk with non-commital hums or very sarcastic and down right insulting remarks. He didn’t even give him a glance as he talked him down. The taller one of the two was taken aback when this first happened and started stuttering halfway through their conversation. This bonding experience was not going how Andy thought it was going to go.

Patty came back about five minutes later and all the gloom that enveloped Avery at the time dissappeared instantly as he smiled a wide smile and skipped over to her. He seemed to totally forget Andy even existed as he hopped of the couch.

However, he didn’t feel defeated. That was his teammate, and whether the brat liked it or not, he was going to be his friend. He liked to think himself as a pretty cool cat to be around, so Aves should warm up to him soon. At least he hoped so. Cats and birds aren't exactly equal on the food chain.

So he kept trying, and the more he pried, the more proper Avery’s responses were to his questions, and though his bitter expression never left him, he at least graced him with the honor of his gaze drifting over to him once in a while.

After a certain conversation, Andy, content that he was making some progress, stood up to steal something from the fridge before lunch. Halfway there, he started hearing small pitter-patter sounds behind him. Turning his head, he saw the one and only second-in-command following him, a neutral expression on his face, and eyes locked onto his back.

Was he...

Was he doing so good that the kid decided to follow him around like he follows boss??

Oh man, he was making a lot of progress!

Content and happy, Andy resumed walking towards the cafeteria, his excitement making him unaware to the feeling of the child’s dagger-like glare directed onto his ‘little brother's‘ head.

\-----------

After that, Avery started taking an actual part in their conversations. His topics were filled with him making up stories and deeds he was yet to do and his 'wide reputation', which at that time barely even existed outside the labs. Andy kind of figured he was being lied to, but he was so happy about getting closer to his subordinate that he didn’t care.

Nor did he care about the menacing smile constantly present on his face or the mocking look in his eyes when they spoke.

\------

As any older brother was bound to one day, Avery loved to prank his siblings. One of the first ones he pulled on Andy was when the boxer was still naive to a fault, and when him wearing a shirt was still a common occurance.

On a normal afternoon, the newcomer was just laying on the couch watching TV and eating popcorn. He was hoping to drag one of the gang to watch a movie with him, since watching one alone was kind of lame.

Avery suddenly rushed in the room, calling out Andy’s name, making the respondant jump. Turning around, he noticed that the boy was panting and in a panic. The child was hurriedly prattling on about ‘breaking one of their boss’ possesions’. He had him at the word ‘boss’ and he made way for her room right away.

Once they reached their destination (Peacock’s cronies entering her room wasn’t such a rare sight so no one paid them much mind, though they did get some looks for looking so worried), Avery picked up and showed his ‘sibling’ the broken toy, exclaiming that he already did all he could, pleading Andy to try and glue the figurine back together. The boy then left as the anvil tried his best to fix the Annie figure, promising he’ll find some tools that could help.

Andy briefly wondered how his brother managed to break it so severely, as all of the limbs except for the left leg were detached, and the body itself looked as if it was cut in half. But he ignored it. He was doing this for his bro. Maybe he’ll ask him about it later.

However, when Avery came back, it was not with hot glue and screwdrivers, but with their boss, obviously not happy at the sight before her. Andy saw Avery’s silhouette behind her, but was too busy stuttering out what he intended to be an apology to pay much attention to him right now. Unfortunately, all that came out of his dumb mouth was a tangled string of “I--”’s and “Um--”’s. He finally looked to his brother for support, but when he properly inspected him, he froze.

Avery didn’t look nervous at all. Nothing in his posture or expression suggested anything about him being nervous. Peacock’s right-hand bord was standing right by the door, hands hidden behind his small body, smiling gently, yet evily, and a mischievous glint in his eyes. The same one he saw during their conversations. Right then, it hit him.

He didn’t break the boss’ toy or run into her on accident. All of this was on purpose, in order to make it look like this was his fault.

But why?

That sentence itself seemed to be written all over his face, because at that moment, Avery grinned a big, toothy, malicious smile that he has seen before, but never gave it much mind, until now.

Andy held his gaze down to the floor as Peacock was making up a punishment for him.

\------

For the rest of the month he had to save up money so that he could buy Pea her Annie figure back, and until he’d repaid the dept, he was to be used as her footstool while she watched her cartoons. Avery helped himself by jabbing the heels of his little feet extra hard into Andy’s back. All the buff man could do was glare and occassionally growl as the lanky child grinned that insufferable smile and looked down on him with those goddessdamn, evil, red, eyes. (Sure, he had red eyes too, but he was the victim here, let him complain!)

He ceased trying to chat with Avery. Actually, he started straight up avoiding him. He still couldn’t understand what happened to make his sibling like this.

And even when he bought Peacock’s treasured figurine back and was planning to get back at Avery, scheming to destroy her prized Sagan slippers, he hesitated. He was sneaking into her room, and he saw her about to pass by him with Avery trudding along behind her, as he always did for some goddessawful reason he didn’t know yet. He tried to make himself look casual by leaning against a wall, whistling some tune he remembered playing during Patty's marathons. Their boss walked past the man, exchanging a quick ‘Hiya’ before resuming her own mission to eat the whole chocolate cake Ileum just bought.

While she passed by him, his ‘brother’ suddenly stopped to look up at him. And there it was again, that exact same posture, hands weaving together behind him, that smug, yet menacing smile on his face and that look in his eyes. The look that Andy deduced said; “Just try. I’ll make it look like it was all you again.”

Andy, though he’d never, ever admit it, was scared stiff at that moment. It seemed like Avery was daring him to try to make it look like his plan was his ‘brothers’ fault, daring him to piss off Peacock, daring him to direct her anger at Avery.

Pea called out to her right wing, and as if once again forgetting the man was even there, skipped over happily to her.

In the end, he refrained, afraid of what other kind of manual labor their boss would make him do for messing with her stuff this time, and wanting to focus on the reason this all happened anyway.

\-----

At the time, Andy had no idea what the hell Avery’s problem with him was. Was he angry at him for something? Did he unknowingly steal some of the clothes from the nest he called a ‘bed’? Was that just what he was like? Did he just have a stick up his ass and he had to learn to live with it?

One day, Argus asked him what was wrong during their down time together.

"Why does Avery hate me?”

Piqued, Argus asked why he thought Avery Unit held such ill feelings towards him. He avoided answering, and instead decided to inquire why Avery seems to have it out for everyone except for her and boss.

“Have you noticed that he and Peacock are very much alike in personality?” Andy nodded. “Avery Unit, as far as we understand it, is a manifestation of Peacock’s characteristics and inner turmoils. An exaggerated personification of her thoughts and emotions. Because he is, to an extent, her, he feels a great need to be with her at all times. He sees himself as the one who understands her the most, knows her the most, and is the most precious to her, because he thinks himself as a major part of her.“

Andy couldn’t look up at Argus from his position where he was laying against the cyclops’ skinny frame, but listened intently either way.

“Because he is so centered around Peacock, he barely pays anyone else any mind. Since I was the one to help her see again, he appears to feel grateful to me for helping her. It might explain why he finds me tolerable. And, as you know, Peacock herself isn’t the most sociable, so he might see relationships with anyone else as even more pointless.“

AA’s mouth curled into a smirk for a moment at the unintentional pun, before focusing back on the matter at hand. Cogs were turning faster and faster in his head, and his face scrunched up this time.

“Because he puts our host at such a high pedastal and sees himself as the most important piece of her, he feels as if neither of them need anyone to keep themselves company, aside from me.“

“Wait wait wait, so...“ Andy interrupted her, sitting up and turning to look up at the other parasite. “...The reason Avery hates me, is because he’s... jealous of me.“

“The possibility of an individual one admires so deeply starting to bond with another person might end up with anger and feelings of possesivness from one party. So... yes. Judging from Avery Unit’s behaviour, that is the most probable answer.“

Wow.

Just. Wow.

He slouched against Argus’ body and sat in silence with her once again, thinking long and hard about the answer he was searching for all these months.

It was all because Avery was afraid Peacock would spend more time with him instead of her sidekick.

Forget what he said about Argus needing to get out more, their second-in-command was in dire need of some new friends.

\-------------

“Ya know, boss doesn’t belong to ya. Or anyone, for that matter.“

Andy managed to find Avery alone on the couch. The setting looked like it was going to be one of their oh-so delightful and definitely-not-pitiful conversations, but the atmosphere and the tone in Andy’s voice completly diminished that impression. Good. It should.

Avery stopped fiddling with his knife and froze. He slowly looked over at Andy, a face that would make you think he was just given the biggest insult of his life. Then again, it probably was to him.

“What?”

“You heard me.” The anvil thrusted his gloved thumb into his own chest. “Listen, I know it’s hard for you to talk to anyone that ain’t the boss, especially since most of the docs here don’t seem to like ya, but you can at least try to be friends with the rest of us, instead of just her.”

Avery went back to his usual resting bitch face and started poking at the blade again. “Why would I talk to anyone else? Ya said it yerself, even the docs don’t tolerate me.”

“Well, they’re a bunch’a old farts, so I get that, but what about the other parasites? Tara really seems to want to be your friend, and you and Bee have so much in common! You’re both anti-social to the max and insult everyone that isn’t your host!”

Avery dead-panned and quirked an eyebrowat Andy. “That supposed to convince me?”

“...Well...” Andy’s body language seemed really tangled at that moment. he started shaking his head, pursed his lips and looked off to the dozens of TV’s decorating the wall. His shoulders looked like as if they were about to shrug, but stopped halfway, and his gloved hands clenched and unclenched by his sides. He felt even smaller than the bird before him. ”Yes...?” He said, smiling nervously and turning his gaze back to the child.

Avery still didn’t look impressed.

“Look, I’m not good at this stuff! What I’m saying is-- not every person here thinks you’re weird or anything, you can just-- I dunno, give them a chance!”

“Why?”

“Because you can’t just expect boss to be the only person you talk to! We’re in the same unit! I exist because of you! That’s already big enough of a reason for us to hang out! Hell, I’m practically your sibling, if not your kid, in a weird way!! You wouldn’t flat-out ignore your kid and put the blame on ‘im whenever he did somethin’ wrong, would’ja!?”

Avery scrunched up his face and looked away, laid the knife by his side, then turned back at Andy. He looked more than a little bit uncomfortable after hearing that statement. Though they didn’t realize it, an image of a baby Andy being cradled by a very disturbed Avery flashed by both their minds, but they shook their heads simultaneously and got back unto the matter at hand.

“...Okay, that was an awkward thing to say. But still!!” He raised his voice and put his hands on hips in order to look authoritive for once. “We’re a group, a gang, we have to stick together in order to drown out all the white noise other jerks have to say about us, right!? I know what you’re going through, trust me, I do--”

“--Really.” Avery interrupted with a snarl, clearly showing his sharp, metal teeth. “So, you know what it’s like to have to hear everyone whisper behind your back?” He sat up on his knees and turned to glare at Andy, with the same hate in his eyes that he shot towards the scientists. “You know what it’s like having everyone stare at you like you're some stain on the Earth? You know what it's like having your name mentioned, only to hear it followed by "mistake"!? Why would I waste my time on people who just see me as some-- some sort of failed experiment!? Who don't even see me as a person!?"

The bird raised his voice, and gripped his knife again. Andy was taken aback. This was the angriest he has ever seen Avery, and the most forward he has been about his hate towards his “younger brother”. And he’s not talking about the “BB won’t let me eat the homemade cookies without sharing let alone before dinner” kind of angry, right now he was genuinely mad, and this made the fear the “younger” man was trying to supress rise unto the the surface again.

Nevertheless, he kept his eyes on the bord, who, to the taller ones surprise, had tears starting to well up in his eyes and his breathing was a little shaky.

"...That what th' docs keep sayin' 'bout ya?"

The shorter one of the two looked down and off to the side, shifting into a cross-legged position, and started fiddling with his knife again, turning it over and trying to reflect the light from the TV screens unto the walls. "S'all i hear whenether they talk about me. Some of ‘em even call me by my old name."

“Assholes.” The boxer stated absentmindedly, just above a whisper. He didn't even say it conciously, it just came out. By now he was certain everyone knew and respected Avery finding out about and being true to himself--even Bee was supportive--but apparently there were still some clueless idiots left. And he would gladly like to have a round in the ring with them. See how they like it. Wonder if any of the old geezers here know how to make an artificial spine. Well, they probably do, but let’s see them do work with like 50 broken bones.

Violent thoughts weren’t exclusive to Aves alone, he was pretty sure every one of Pea’s gang has contemplated killing one of the lab’s interns at least twice, but most of the time they’re just too lazy to go through with it. But shark-teeth just might rip somebody a new one if he finds the slightest hint of them being a suspect.

The offended look on his face was seen by the eyes on Aves’ tailfeathers, and he snorted. That already calmed the anvil down a notch, and, sensing the amount of hostility got graded down, went to take a seat on the couch, next to the emotionally unstable kid with a knife and weird fascination with dismembering stuffed animals. Because that’s totally safe.

AA’s previous thought inspired him. “Why don’t ya just beat some sense inta them?”

“It’s not something you just... tell people to stop doing. Whether I tell or threaten ‘em to stop or not, they’ll keep thinkin’ it. I know it.”

“Did you try?”

“Why bother trying when I know how it’ll end up?”

“But that’s not like you!”

Avery stiffened once again, but his expression wasn’t murderous, it just showed confusion and he side-glanced in Andy’s direction, who promptly took him by the shoulders--tiny, compared to the anvil’s huge gloves. He froze even more, if that was even possible, and his eyes blew wide open instead of being constantly half-lidded whenever they were together before.

Finally, now that Andy has his “brothers” attention, maybe they can talk it out.

“The Avery I know is persistent! He sticks his nose inta everybody’s business, learns their darkest secrets and uses it as blackmail in order to skip out on check-ups and eat rice waffles instead a’ dinner! You don’t let what people think about ya get ya down! And even if they do, ya wouldn’t let ‘em have the victory! I don’t know how much of our time together was you being genuine, but if it’s one thing I know about you that isn’t a lie, it’s that you never give up! Ever!”

Avery opened his mouth his mouth to argue, but hesitated and started looking around frantically, at the couch cushions, at the long-forgotten Tex Avery cartoon playing on the dozens of TV’s, the metal ceiling he couldn’t reach no matter how many times he would bounce up a trampoline or shoot himself out of a cannon in order to achieve that goal, anywhere but Andy.

“And when ya do find yerself in a ditch, I wanna be there to support ya!”

“And how do I know you don’t think think of me the same way they do!?” He grabbed a hold of Andy’s wrist, trying to pry it away, to no avail.

“Well, I’d sorta be callin’ the kettle black, don’tcha think?”

“Implying you’re not a hypocrite.”

“I’m not!”

“Just a week ago you boasted how spiderbite earrings made guys look lame and “emo” and then the next day you had your ears pierced.”

“That was one time!! I’m serious! I wouldn’t joke about somethin’ serious like this!”

“Would you really?”

The “younger” of the two pouted and loosened his grip on the “older” shoulders, taking back one of his hands but still kept the other there. He sighed and half-shrugged.

“Well, if I can’t convince ya by pep talk, dat’s fine. Like I said, ‘m not good with that kinda stuff anyway. Our gang’s more ‘bout actions speakin’ louder than words anyway, right?” He gradually smiled as he went on, and then thrust a gloved thumb into his chest. “So I’ll support ya the only way I know how-- anyone who dares talk shit behind yer back?” He took back the remaining hand on Avery’s body and thrust his fist into an open palm. “I’ll beat ‘em to a pulp!“

The bord still looked skeptical, but there was also hint of surprise--pleasant surprise, AA hoped. Presumed. Knew. “I-I don’t need ya to beat ‘em up for me! I’m the main unit, I can take care of them myself!“ He shouted, mimicking his “brother’s” gesture from earlier by jabbing his thumb into his tiny torso.

“Then I’ll help you beat ‘em up!” Andy pumped his fists in the air.

“I don’t need your help!” Avery put his hands on his hips.

“Then I’ll cheer you on as you beat ‘em up!” The taller one gave a thumbs up and beamed.

“I don’t need a cheerleader either!!” The short one screeched, and Andy was pretty sure that if there was someone walking down the hallway at that moment, they started walking faster.

Nevertheless, he crossed his arms and held his head high. “Well, bad news for ya buddy, ya got one anyways!”

“AAAARGHH!!” The “older brother” finally reached a breaking point. He fell unto the back of the couch, covering his face in gloved, cartoonishly large hands. One of them was still balled up, holding the knife, but he tried to hide his face with it nontheless. He kicked his legs against Andy’s side like a spoiled child and the victim reflexively slid away to the other side of the couch in order to avoid the tantrum attack.

“Ow! Hey! Stop that!!”

“No!!”

“Why not!?”

“ ‘Cuz yer embarrassin’!! And yer not listenin’ to me!!

“I’ve been listening to ya the whole time!”

“No, I‘ve been listening to YOU!” He pulled his hands away from his face and and threw his knife. The taller once dodged out of the way at the last second, the edge ever-so-slightly grazing Andy’s nose and collided with the wall.

“OW!!” His gloved hand touched the wound, only to hiss as the plastic only made the cut feel worse. The pain was actually not that bad, it was a sting at worst, but the wannabe-wrestler loved to be dramatic, and maaaaybe, just maaaaaaaaybe wanted to make Avery feel the slightest guilt about almost shanking his goddessdamn face.

The smaller one was still in the position when he threw the knife, on his knees and his hand outstreched. He stared at his “baby brothers” face with a look similiar to the one you would see on a child that got caught doing something they obviously shouldn’t be doing, like cutting their hair off with scissors they found in the kitchen drawer or completly messing up a room just to find some candy. “Oh, whoops.”

“ ‘Whoops’!? You almost shanked my goddessdamn face!!”

Avery crossed his arms and looked off to the side. “Ya dodged it.”

The other threw his hands in the air. Great, now he was the one that was angry and in disbelief. “But what if I hadn’t!?!?”

The small bird turned his gaze back to him, eyebrows raised and a shit-eating grin on his face. “But ya did.”

The buff man loudly groaned and mimicked his bro’s posture, hunched over, arms crossed. “Yer impossible.”

“What was yer first clue?”

”UGH.”

There was a moment of silence, both of them not really knowing how to continue. The “younger” one rubbed the wound with his forearm after he felt the metal taste near his mouth. It seemed like they just went back to square one.

But Andy wouldn’t let it go back to that square. Oh no, they’re going straight to whatever square has the highest number.

“I am serious.”

The child looked up at the adult ever-so slightly, guilt actually showing on his face. Wow, he didn’t seriously think that that would work, but ok. He was starting to feel a bit bad himself, right before he remembered that this kid nearly stabbed him in the eye. He didn’t feel as bad anymore.

”It’s just...” Avery started, and then paused. Andy waited, looking anticipatingly and curiously at him.

“It won’t just... go away. The feeling. That somebody still might be talking ‘bout me, callin’ me names, callin’ me a mistake... that eventually they'll start pretending like I'm not even here anymore, that all there is to the Avery Unit is how boss is able ta utilize "it" as a weapon. And when they don't find me interesting anymore, they’ll see me as useless n’ throw me away. I know I’m--”

”The only way they’ll be throwin’ ya out is after they take ya from our cold, dead hands.” Andy interrupted with a snarl.

”...Our?”

”Uh, yeah? Ya forgot you were in a gang already? Boss, Argus an' me, we all care ‘bout ya! Yer part of our gig! Our show! It wouldn’t be the same without ya! And we sure as hell won’t let some four-eyes take ya away from us. It’s us against the world.

”There was a pause, and then a small voice broke the silence.

”Even though I constantly fight with you?”

”Keeps me aware. Never a boring day with ya.”

”...Even though I call ya names?”

”Sticks and stones can break my bones, not words. ‘Sides, I know ya don’t mean ‘em most a’ the time.”

”Even though I made boss believe you destroyed her stuff?”

Andy had to pause at that. “Well... honestly, I’m still angry at ya about that, but one of the main reasons I came to talk to ya is because I wanted to find out why you’d do that, and-- well, I got my answer more or less. I guess I just... wanted ta finally get over it so we can move on and...” He shrugged. “I dunno. Stop acting like a pair of some shitty adults who think not talking ‘bout problems’ll make ‘em go away?”

“...Awfully mature of you.”

“Hey, I’ve got the body of an adult, might as well act it, right?”

“Well, technically, you’re twenty-ish, and from what I’ve learned out of reality shows is that you’re supposed to be acting like a dumb bratboy at that age. So you’re actually spot-on as you are.”

“You’re not ever gonna stop callin’ me names, are ya?”

“Nnnnnnnope.” Avery replied with an innocent smile.

Another moment of quiet.

”...Even if--”

”Even if yer afraid that I’ll ‘‘take boss away from ya’’ or somethin’ stupid like that--listen. Boss doesn’t belong to ya, not to me, not ta anyone, she only belongs to herself. I thought you’d already know her answer ta that.”

Avery made a string of sputtering noises, which reminded Anvil of a certrain moment from a few weeks back. So this is how it feels like to have the upper hand.

Nice.

”I-I... what... how’d you...” He made a few pointing gestures towards Andy, the entrance hall and other directions, until his hands were disturbingly twisted together. “Wait.” His hands unravelled in a cartoony fashion as he dead-panned. “Argus told you, didn’t she. Yer not that perceptive.”

”Hey!! I can be perceptive when I wanna be!”

”No, no you can’t. You don’t have dozens of eyes ta monotor others wherever they go. Me n’ Argus do.” He sighed. “I’m gonna have a long talk with her later. I don’t want my feelings being shared with anyone, especially people who just can’t keep their traps shut.”

He glared up at the man to his left, though he wasn’t glaring daggers. It just seemed like he was trying his darnest to be mad at Andy, but the most intense emotion he could muster at the moment could only be described as “peeved”.

”Well, I guess I’d be pissed too if I had people talk behind my back.”

”Th-’ docs talk about ya too. Ya just ignore it.” Stated the child, fidgeting with the fingernails hidden behing his gloves.

”They do??”

”Mmhm.”

”Assholes!”

A giggle escaped the smaller one of the two. “Well, it’s not as bad as the stuff they say ‘bout me, so yer not missin’ much.”

“Ass. Holes.”

The kid obviously tried to keep himself from laughing, but a snort escaped him nontheless.

”Still! What’s not to like about me!?” Avery opened his mouth to speak, but the man put the back of his hand on it in order to stop him. ”Hypothetical question.”

”Aww,” He grabbed and pulled the arm away with both hands. “and I had a whole list prepared just for this, too.” He fake-pouted.

“I dunno if yer being legit or not so I’m just gonna ask ya to never show it ta me, just in case ya really aren't screwin' around.”

The younger-looking one of the two waggled his eyebrows up at the older one. The latter once again put his hand on Avery’s face, this time to cover the whole thing up. “Stop.”

”Kee hee hee~”

The taller one couldn’t help it, he smiled too. And then he put his hand on his shoulder again.

”Now, real talk, and don’t interrupt me.”

Avery just sighed and cocked his head to the side, gesturing for him to go on.

“I’ll be yer support, yer assistant, yer right wing, bouncer, bodyguard, whatever! I’ll be there to help ya with stuff ya can’t do yerself, I’ll be there ta remind you who are, and I’ll be there ta remind ya how much you matter to us! I’ll knock it to ya if I have to!”

Avery looked contemplative and pursed his lips, staring at Andy’s face. The blood from the wound already started to close. One of the benefits of being a parasite, you have a much faster and better healing factor than that of a humans.

They were both parasites. They both face the same treatment from society, who consider their mere existence a danger. But together, they can drown out the white noise coming from them, and prove them wrong, and show them that they can be the good guys (albeit a bit morally challenged) and beat the Skull Heart, despite being initially hated.

“...’ppreciate it.”

Andy beamed once again. Avery grinned in return, the same toothy, metal grin

“So, whad’ya say, truce?”

Andy retrieved his hand, only to extend it to Avery.

If they were together...

It would just all-around be more fun.

“...Fine, ya big palooka. Truce.”

And with that, the two cartoony characters shook hands.

A few minutes after they parted, only then Andy realized that he still didn’t exactly know how Avery’s head worked, nor did he really resolve Avery’s obsessive attachment to their boss, but he promised his “brother” that’d be there to help him, and he’s going to keep his word.

And it might be kind of selfish to think, but hell, Aves might be sadistic and tough to keep up with, but if he’s anything, it’s loyal. He will do literally anything for his boss and will insist to fight anyone who badmouths Lab 8.

And hey, if Avery comes to be as loyal to Andy as he is to Lab 8, the man will make sure to return the sentiment tenfold.

After all, feelings, as far as Andy knew, aren’t the best when you’re dealing with them alone.

And who better to cheer you up during bad times than your family of misfits?

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“AVERY YOU LITTLE FUCK, GET BACK HERE!!” Andy shouted, as right now he was basically being the Wild E. Coyote to his teammates’ Road Runner, rushing as fast as he could after the little chicken. He should know the pill enough to know that him saying “Oh, wow, cool! Can I take an intsy-bitsy peek?” actually means “This is mine now, I’m probably gonna burn it by accident later but for as long as I have it I’m gonna embarrass you by showing whatever this is to everyone in my general vicinity.” To think that he keeps falling for the brats honeyed words (they weren’t even that good!!) and has his property being taken from right under his nose at least three times a week!

Avery bounced and landed on the top of the sofa with the flexibility and balance of a professional acrobat, turning to the door and leaning over with a smug look on his face, as if he was taller than the sweaty, shirtless man that was currently hunched over by the doorframe, trying to take a breather.

“What? Too fast for ya? Man, yer gettin’ old, AA!” Mocked the mockingbird.

“I’m... younger... than you!!” Andy suddenly shot his head up and resumed his hunt for the avian. He outstreched his arms in order to catch his prey, but Avery quickly bounced up and kicked the ‘younger’ one of the two right in the face. When Andy recovered, he growled, searching for where the brat might’ve gone. When the front, right, left and even the back failed him, he looked up, to find that the kid started scurrying up the huge wall of TV’s. You know, the TV’s in the living room the gang constanly fought over, debating whose turn it is to watch their afternoon show? The tv’s in the same living room that Andy and Avery had their chats in and eventually resolved their differences, at least to an extent? Yeah, those ones.

Everyone had their preferences. Andy, obviously, insisted on watching the sports channels, specifically the boxing and wrestling matches and enthusiastically cheered on his favourites.

Tommy, who joined not too long after the boxer and the knife expert’s real talk, preffered dramas, but he joined Andy to watch his shows nevertheless. Most of the time he cheered on the sportsmen or women Andy didn’t like, which kickstarted their betting games, most of which Andy lost. In turn, Andy got into the drama shows Tommy often watched. He thought they were lame at first, but then he got so into them he was practically treating them the same way he treated the sports channel, cheered and booed depending on what kind of situation was ensuing.

George and Lenny, their most recent recruits, liked action movies, moreso for the explosions and special effects than the plot itself.

Argus, well... Her favourite show to watch was a little something called “Everyone’s Private Lifes”, which was basically about knowing what is happening in the labs at any time. However, she has recently started indulging the gang by joining their movie nights. She still doesn’t have a favourite genre, and she’s happy to watch whatever the gang chooses. She’s still got a way to go when it comes to emotions, but she’s been making great strides and is getting better and better everyday, a fact that makes Andy beam whenever he remembers it.

Peacock and Avery are the ones that mostly get to pick the movies, since. Well. Boss. Second-In-Command. Can’t really argue with them.

Both of them loved their cartoons, however, Andy caught his ‘older’ brother peeking into the living room more than once when Hive and Bee were in the middle of watching some crappy sopa operas. To each his own, Andy said to himself and quietly, but quickly, exited stage left. He still finds himself giggling from time to time at the thought that he’s the one who’s got dirt on Avery for a change. He doesn’t wanna spill the beans just yet, but he still gets an itch from time to time, and it’s getting kind of hard. He might start writing a diary, like Avery. The one the muscled man reads every week like a favourite novella and then descreetly puts back in place.

“Mentally!”

Wait.

“And aren’t ya a wrestler? Yer supposed ta be physically fit for that kinda thing, yeah?”

Speaking of Avery.

Oh, right. Chasing! He’s supposed to be mad, not reminiscing!!

He snapped out of whatever trance that was, and hurried to climb the huge wall of TV’s, when he noticed that his big boxer gloves were a teensy-bitsy too big to fir in the gaps between the black boxes.

Still, he wasn’t deterred. He wasn’t called The Competitive Airhead of Lab 8 for nothing, after all. he started climbing the ‘wall’ with new-found determination, albeit much slower than the rascal way above and ahead of him.

“I’m a boxer, I don’t need to run fast, I need to throw fast punches! We’ve been over this!!” He finally responded, as he was advancing towards his target.

Avery stopped in his tracks and let his two left limbs to hang freely as he pondered something. He was probably thinking of a comback to Andy’s sentence. Feathery asshole.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

Wait for it.

Avery smirked, as sly as a fox, and responded; “All that muscle just slows ya and yer brain down.”

There it is.

“AAAARGHH!!”

He knew it was coming, but that didn’t make the anvil any less angry. He sped up his ascend. The brief flash of panic that appeared on Avery’s face was enough to let him think he has the upper hand, but when the child took off his hat right-side up so that AA could see the bottom, he knew he had to get out of the way, and fast.

A bunch of junk suddenly started raining down on the man, who let his legs hang free, and instead used his hands to hop from gap to gap in order to avoid the shadows of impending doom. One item particularly caught Andy’s eye. A spiky flail. The young man grinned and once again stuck his feet in the crevices between the TV’s, extending his hand out to catch the chain the metal ball was connected to. When he caught it, he grinned and chuckled, starting to spin the weapon around as he continued climbimg up.

Meanwhile, Avery was too distracted to notice Andy coming closer and closer, as he found out, to his annoyance, that he was out of ammo, and frantically shook his hat up and down. As he growled and grinded his teeth, he looked down, let out a high-pitched squawk and dodged out of the way of the metal spike ball that would’ve otherwise hit him right in the chest. The ball instead collided with the televisions that were behind the bird, and startedl to fall out of their spots, their cables noticibly snapping.

Avery, afraid he would go out along with the machines, hopped to his bottom right, leaving his hat behind to slowly float down unto the ground. He began to heave a sigh of relief, when it was interrupted by a big, muscly arm wrapping itself around his think neck, dragging him down with the machines.

He let out a scream as he fell, but the man behind him let out a laugh and a howl instead.

“Lay the Hurting DOWN!!!”

The sound the impact made was muted out by the sound of clash crashing and sparks flying. The impact itself was not so bad, since Andy took most of the fall, except for his poor, poor neck, which was in so much pain he couldn’t fathom it.

Fuck Andy and his chokeholds.

The man the child just cursed in his mind sat up, still holding his small body, this time in both arms and looked down at him. Although his neck hurt, the bird still craned it up to look up at the man. Contrary to the childs pained expression, the anvil had a cocky smile on his face and extended a hand in front of the little bird.

“Hand it over.” He said, the sparks could still be heard.

Avery sighed, extended his hand, from which a rolled-up poster suddenly popped out. The older man quickly snatched it and sat up, and Avery draped himself over the man’s lap for a moment before rolling away and sitting up as well.

“Ya happy...?” He grunted, circling his neck, various cring-worthy sounds emitting from it.

“Yep!” Replied the man, nuzzling the poster lovingly, as if it was the photo of his crush, well, actually, it was, but Andy is too dense to acknowlegde it.

“Y’know--URGH” He suddenly paused and stayed still for a moment, before circling his neck around again. This time, huffed a sigh of relief. “If I knew ya would break my neck for a poster of yer favourite role model, i would’a probably avoid that one.”

“Hah! I doubt it! You’d just go after it right away!”

“Yeah. Probably.” The bird averted his gaze, walking away to search for his beloves top hat. The anvil chuckled.

“Man...” He extended the unrolled poster in front of him, a poster of Beowulf, a limited edition at that, one that was given out in his last show, and Andy just happened to find it while loitering around the alleyways or New Meridian. “I can’t believe Beo and The Hurting are comin’ back! I can finally have them sign somethin’ for me!! Can you believe it, Aves!? Cuz I can’t!!” He then started kicking his legs against the carpeted floor, not noticing Avery getting up until he was right in front of his face.

“What?” The joy on the man’s face suddenly turned into confusion. He noticed The top hat had found it’s righteous place on his second-in-command’s head.

“Why do ya still have that bandage, ya nerd? Think it makes ya look cool?” He playfully booped Andy on the bridge of his pointy nose, where a bandage was applied.

“Oh, shaddap!” The taller man slapped the arm away and stood up. “Yer definition o’ “cool” is different than mine! Not everythin’ revolves around ya.”

The kid snorted. “It makes ya look like a palooka, you said it backwards, and left out a few words.”

Andy, ever-mature, blew a raspberry right in Avery’s face. The bird boy gagged and started scurrying away.

“‘Sides,” Andy started while still giggling. “‘S a good reminder”

“Reminder of what? When you almost got stabbed in the face by the over-dramatic 12 year old?” Sneered the boid.

“That too. Two other things. The first is that you’re a quick draw. Second...” He trailed off, and started scratching his neck with his gloved thumb. “Well, It’s the day I decided to be as loyal to ya as you are ta boss!”

Avery stared, bewildered for a few seconds and looked around frantically.

“I...” He started, and then turned. ”I gotta go. Samson wanted ta see me today for some reason.”

AA waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. So much for a brotherly moment. “Yeah, yeah, go meet with yer sugar daddies or whateva the fuck they are.”

Andy casually cocked his head to the right to avoid the knife thrown in his direction.

“Subordinates, asshole. Stop calling them that. Wasn’t funny then, isn’t funny now. ‘S just gross.”

“Yeaaaah, kinda is, ain’t it.” The man looked off to the side, widened his eyes as if he suddenly remembered something and turned his eyes back to his ‘brother’. “Yer neck gon’ be alright?”

“Oh, quit worryin’, ya baby! Yer lil’ stunts ain’t nothin’ compared ta what Sam makes me do.”

“Uh. And that is...?”

“Confidential.”

“Seriously!?”

“Yyyyyep.” He puffed up his chest in pride.

“Y’know that if ya want ta get anything off yer chest, I’m here, yeah?” The man suddenly said, more serious than he had been all day. Avery looked back, contemplative, then smiled. Smiled a genuine smile.

“’Course, kiddo. I’ll let ya know if something’ happens.”

“Promise?

“Promise.”

There was a pause.

Then Andy sighed and smiled.

“Okay, Good huntin’, bro.”

“Won’t be huntin’ I’ll be doing this time.” He tipped his hat and winked. “I’ve got info to gather!”

Andy waved his older brother goodbye with a smile plastered on his face as the bird teleported away to who knows where. To meet who knows who. Well, Samson, obviously, but what was the deal with that guy? What did he want from ol’ Aves?

...

It’ll be alright.

He’ll be alright.

He made a promise.

...

Right?

...

Yeah, everything’s gonna be a-ok!

Convinced, and his worry pushed once again into the back of his mind, Andy walked away to drag Argus out of her hidey-hole and invite her to watch some wrestling.

He whistled a tune known by everyone in Lab 8 along the way. A tune that doesn’t really have an official name, but one Pea and her gang like to call;

“Paved with Good Intentions.”

Seemed appropriate, not only to the lab itself, but almost everyone living withing the lab as well.

So everyone went with it.

\---------------

Later that day...

“So...” Spoke Avian in a calm voice, circling the mess that was a pile of broken TV’s in the middle of the living room.

Every attendant was there...

“Who did it?” The doctor turned to the staff.

Every attendant... except Avery.

Goddessdamnit.


End file.
